"Hats Off" to New Fiction At JCPL!

Over the course of our lives, we wear many hats. After 53 years, I’ve worn a few that fit well and others that weren’t exactly my style or size.

Starting out my adult life as a hairdresser, I discovered that there is some confusion about the word “beautician.” Because it rhymes with “magician,” there are misconceptions about the job description, and after awhile, wearing that hat got to be not-so-magical.

I tried working around food a bit, too, but because of my pre-disposition to setting things on fire, decided that if I couldn’t take the heat, I’d better get out of the kitchen.

Then I saw an ad in the paper for the DeMotte Library; they were hiring. I’d always loved books, so I tried on that hat. That was nearly 22 years ago, and to this day, that hat feels just right.

Now I’m going to give you a magical description of some great, new fiction that will light a fire in you. Try these on for size!

The faulty heart; the brain tumor, the fractured femur; all of these medical problems have the potential to become disastrous statistics in the operating room. After all, surgeons are only as good as their skills. At Chelsea General, the Morbidity and Mortality Conference, also known as M & M, is where doctors answer for the bad outcomes of surgeries that started out with good intentions. Follow the lives of five surgeons who push their skills to the limit in “Monday Mornings: A Novel” by Sanjay Gupta.

Wyatt has a job; just a routine, run of the mill, simple jewel heist and plans for a fast getaway afterward. Wyatt prefers to work alone, but this heist will include Eddie Oberin because his very intelligent ex-wife is the one who set it all up. Nothing should go wrong; but well laid plans go awry for Wyatt in a hurry, making for an adventurous journey through the unexpected in “Wyatt” by Garry Disher.

A hazing scandal at the prestigious school where her adopted son, Scott, teaches sends recently widowed Sylvie McAllister into a world of chaos, complete with a tangled web of secrets. Determined to unravel the truth behind all of the mystery, Sylvie and her family travel across state lines in search of the truth in “Everything We Always Wanted” by Sara Shepard.

Timothy Van Bender’s perfect life is about to be upended by tragedy. His previously thriving hedge-fund business has run aground because of a bad bet, and his beautiful wife, Katherine, has seemingly committed suicide. Timothy’s perfect life is unraveling at a rapid rate, and to make matters even worse, Tricia, his secretary, has shown up on his doorstep claiming to be his dead wife, and the fact that she knows things that only Katherine would have known sends chills up Timothy’s spine in “Switchback,” a dark and gripping thriller by Matthew Klein.

Max Bravo returns in “The Barbary Dogs” by Cynthia Robinson. Max thinks it’s about time for some R & R, but fate has other ideas for him, leading him through a maze of foggy landscapes and romantic intrigue as he investigates the untimely demise of his old friend after he leaps off of the Golden Gate Bridge. As Max encounters wily ghosts and crackpots along the way, this trip to San Francisco’s Barbary Coast becomes a truly outrageous adventure.

The late, great Shakespeare, master of words, is quoted as saying, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.” April 26 would be the birthday of this legendary poet, author and man that wore many hats in his life. Let’s celebrate with a trip to JCPL, for after all, that’s a hat that is truly “one size fits all!”